In Britain, the demand for universal suffrage inspired the Tory Prime Minister Pitt to enact legislation against sedition and revolutionary activities deemed as being against British values of democracy.

Charles Fox and Richard Sheridan Brinsley, allies and mentors of the young Grey, denounced the government's actions for suppressing reform movements due to association with revolutionary ideals.

[7] The government fell from power the next year, and, after a brief period as a member of parliament for Appleby from May to July 1807, Howick went to the Lords, succeeding his father as Earl Grey.

In 1811, the Prince Regent tried to court Grey and his ally William Grenville to join the Spencer Perceval ministry following the resignation of Lord Wellesley.

After being initially enthused by the Spanish uprising against Napoleon, Grey became convinced of the French emperor's invincibility following the defeat and death of Sir John Moore, the leader of the British forces in the Peninsular War.

[11] In 1826, believing that the Whig party no longer paid any attention to his opinions, Grey stood down as leader in favour of Lord Lansdowne.

[12] The following year, when George Canning succeeded Lord Liverpool as prime minister, it was, therefore, Lansdowne and not Grey who was asked to join the Government, which needed strengthening following the resignations of Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington.

[14] In 1830, following the death of George IV and the resignation of the Duke of Wellington on the question of Parliamentary reform, the Whigs finally returned to power, with Grey as prime minister.

The legislation granted the right to vote to a broader segment of the male population by standardizing property qualifications, extending the franchise to small landowners, tenant farmers, shopkeepers.

Grey also contributed to a plan to found a new colony in South Australia: in 1831 a "Proposal to His Majesty's Government for founding a colony on the Southern Coast of Australia" was prepared under the auspices of Robert Gouger, Anthony Bacon, Jeremy Bentham and Grey, but its ideas were considered too radical, and it was unable to attract the required investment.

The first repealed all existing enactments on the subject, "and the second provided that workmen in a number of the principal industries must receive payment in the current coin of the realm.

[24] They had ten sons and five daughters, as follows: Grey spent his last years in contented, if sometimes fretful, retirement at Howick with his books, his family, and his dogs.

[26] His biographer G. M. Trevelyan argues: "In our domestic history 1832 is the next great landmark after 1688 ... [It] saved the land from revolution and civil strife and made possible the quiet progress of the Victorian era.